Easton says 'go fish' to Lehigh River dam removal

City Council, staff want shad returned to Lehigh River, but also want to keep two dams.

July 10, 2013|By JD Malone, Of The Morning Call

Easton wants its shad, and it wants its dams.

After Abigail Pattishall, the vice president of conservation at Wildlands Conservancy, presented the findings of a study on how to return migratory American shad to the Lehigh River — the study calls for the removal of the Easton and Chain dams — things got chilly in City Council chambers Wednesday night.

Councilman Roger Ruggles, a water resource expert and engineering professor at Lafayette College, said the study's conclusions on flood mitigation were incorrect.

"That is totally wrong," Ruggles said, saying that flooding on the lower Lehigh River is dictated by the Delaware River, whether the dams stay or go.

He added that the error on flooding makes him wonder if other flaws are present in the study's findings.

Councilwoman Elinor Warner asked where the up to $18 million for dam removal would come from. Pattishall said some would come from the Palmerton Trust, set up to mitigate the pollution from the Palmerton zinc smelting operations.

"We don't have it," Warner said of the required funding.

Pattishall said the city would not be asked to pay for the destruction of either dam.

The city owns the Chain Dam, a 700-foot-long structure stretched across the Lehigh in Palmer Township near Island Park. The dam, built in the 1800s, watered the Lehigh Canal. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources owns the Easton Dam, which corks the Lehigh at its confluence with the Delaware River.

The shad have refused to cooperate beyond the confluence of the Lehigh and Delaware rivers where the 590-foot-long, 30-foot-high Easton Dam has plugged the Lehigh since 1830.

Fish ladders were added to the dams 20 years ago at a cost of $2.8 million. They have not worked. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission estimates that repopulating the shad in the Lehigh would require up to 400,000 fish to swim up the river. In 2011, just 558 made the trip past the Easton Dam and just a trickle of those, 29, got through the Chain Dam.

The Wildlands' study considered several other scenarios —- lowering the dams, taking out pieces of the dams, building fish ramps — but determined there are only two options: Do nothing or do it all.

The Easton Dam and the Chain Dam were built in the early 1800s to water the Delaware and Lehigh canals when the river was controlled by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Co. The dams have been improved, and even moved and rebuilt since.

The Delaware River Shad Fishermen's Association came out to plead for dam removal. It has advocated for dam removal for years, saying all, "killer, non-hydro dams" on the Lehigh should be taken out.

Member John Berry said the dams are of no use because the canals are now just relics.

"We can't create the future," Berry said, "by clinging to the past."

Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said the canals might be history, but they are an important part of Easton's history, and must be maintained. He also said the Easton Dam has become an icon.

"People go down to see it, to hear it," Panto said.

Easton's chief planner, Brian Gish, said other alternatives should be investigated, such as the type of fish elevators used on the Connecticut River. He said such devices on smaller dams have proven successful. Panto wondered if the shad have to push a button to go up.

"They have an attendant," Gish joked. "There is this really gnarly catfish who runs it."

After almost two hours of talking, another shad fisherman, Dave Bittner, asked council not to end discussions on finding a viable solution for returning the shad to the Lehigh River.

"Let's not close the book on this," Bittner said.

Panto said he'd love nothing more than restoring the shad, but taking away the dams isn't an option.